Dr Siyabonga Cwele is the Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services of the Republic of South Africa. In this portfolio he is tasked with ensuring that the country realises great developmental value in the Information and Communication Technologies andpostal services sectors through the provision of reliable and affordable modern communications and financial services to all citizens. In this way, the sectors can contribute significantly to socio-economic transformation and building a more inclusive and prosperous nation.

He previously served as the Minister of Intelligence from 2008-2009 and subsequently as Minister of State Security from 2009-2014, before assuming his current position in May 2014. He is currently serving a second two-year term as a Commissioner representing the South African Government on the United Nations Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development.

He has been a Member of Parliament since the advent of democracy in South Africa in 1994, and served as the Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence, as Chair of Standing Committee on Social Services, and as a Member of the Joint Budget Committee. Previously Dr Cwele served in the underground structures of the African National Congress (ANC) between 1984 and 1990 during the struggle for liberation.

Dr Cwele is a medical practitioner who holds an MBchB in Medical Policy from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, a postgraduate diploma in child health from the College of Medicine in South Africa and an Mphil in Economics from the University of Stellenbosch.

He serves as a member of the national and provincial political leadership of the ANC.